STEM Lab Podcast

Dr. Dickerson is an environmental neuroepidemiologist with primary research interests in environmental risk factors for neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Specifically, she studies combined environmental and occupational exposures to metals over the life course and subsequent individual and transgenerational neurological outcomes, including autism spectrum disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and dementia. Additionally, she continues to investigate the influence of disparities in autism assessment and service provision along with environmental justice issues in underserved communities.

Dr. Sabrina Walthall takes time to reintroduce herself to her listeners new and old. Dr. Walthall is currently an Associate Professor of Science and the  Pre-Health/Science Coordinator for her department. In this segment she talks about her journey in the STEM pipeline, dealing with impostor syndrome and being a first generational college student. We learn more about why she started the STEM Lab podcast and how she views herself as a STEM activist for the  equity and inclusion of women and minorities in STEM.

Letitia M. Ward received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Engineering Construction Management both from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her career is multifaceted starting as a Project Engineer with U.S. Steel, creating her own company L. McMullin LLC,  and currently working as a CBM Team Leader for Georgia Power. Letitia talks with us about finding your way in a male-dominated field, she encourages young women to find their voice and shares with professionals her strategies for successful networking as an introvert. This episode has so many gems of wisdom for all stages of the STEM pipeline.

Dr. Chastity Bradford completed her undergraduate studies at Spelman College (an HBCU)  earning a B.S. in Biology.  While there she was a  Microbiology Scholar, received a Howard Hughes Fellowship (Loyola University, Chicago, IL), and made Spelman College’s Honor Society as well as the Dean’s List.  Chastity started her graduate studies in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Her research area focused on Cardiovascular Physiology in Dr. Pamela A. Lucchesi's Lab. Her dissertation work focused on The Role of the Renin-Angiotensin System in Extracellular Matrix Remodeling During the Progression of Hypertension and the Development of Cardiac Fibrosis

Currently, Dr. Bradford is an Associate Professor of Biology in the College of Arts and Science at Tuskegee University (an HBCU). As the Principal Investigator of her own lab, the Bradford Lab, she uses hemodynamic, molecular, biochemical, and immunohistological analyses to determine if ACE2 overexpression prevents Angiotensin-II induced HTN and rescues Pulmonary Hypertension.

Lusharn Colvin is a native of Bessemer, AL. and during her childhood years, she was a dedicated student at the top of her class through high school. Lusharn was accepted to the University of Alabama and graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. She has worked as a Quality Engineer for Johnson and Johnson Consumer Products, a pharmaceutical sales rep for Janseen Pharmaceuticals and Merck and Co for 12 years. Lusharn left her corporate job of over 12 years and decided to attend nursing school full time. In 2017, Lusharn graduated from Middlesex County College with an Associate’s degree in nursing and is now a registered nurse in New Jersey. As an essential healthcare worker, Lusharn was tested and diagnosed as positive for the coronavirus after suffering with some symptoms. After 14 plus days of quarantine, LuSharn wants to share with the STEM Lab Podcast her inspirational story of how she overcame COVID 19. This is Herstory.

Kizzmekia "Kizzy" Shanta Corbett (born January 26, 1986) is an American viral immunologist at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health (NIAID NIH) based in Bethesda, Maryland. Appointed to the VRC in 2014, she is currently the scientific lead of the VRC's Coronavirus Team, with research efforts aimed at propelling novel coronavirus vaccines, including a COVID-19 vaccine.- Wikipedia

Media soundbite from NIAID: Kizzmekia Corbett, Ph.D., of NIAID's Vaccine Research Center discusses efforts to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV) that causes COVID-19 in an interview conducted Jan. 28, 2020.

Intro bio information- https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/kizzmekia-shanta-corbett-1986/

Betty M Booker completed her undergraduate studies at Grambling State University (an HBCU) in 2003, earning a B.S. in Biology while completing three internships with the USDA, Thomas Jefferson University (Kimmel Cancer Center), and Johns Hopkins University (Bayview Medical Center). In 2010, Betty started her graduate studies in Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) (in Dr. Patrick Higgins Lab). Her dissertation work focused on DNA structure and topology during replication and analysis of topoisomerases and chromosome structure in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium using Lambda Red Recombineering.

Currently, Dr. Booker is a Senior Scientist in the New Technology Group (Research & Development) at Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD), an RNA in situ biotechnology company in Fremont, CA.